Saturday, March 3, 2012

If you must Multitask

Scripture Verse that Caught My Attention Today: Numbers 33:1 These are the stages by which the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt in military formation under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

Observation: We know Moses was a spokesperson for God, a leader of the people (leading them out of Egypt), a judge, and a priest. But now we see that Moses was a military commander too.

Application: If Moses were alive today we’d call him a multitasker. He had to spend significant time listening to God, significant time planning various ‘movements’ of the people—whether for escape from Egypt or for desert wanderings or for war, significant time listening to people’s ‘cases’ regarding various domestic disputes, and, of course, coordinating a host of worship events. Somehow he managed to do all this multitasking without the benefit of e-mail, the Internet, Facebook, or even an iphone!

I do a fair amount of multitasking too, though apparently not anywhere near as well. In retrospect I would propose that one thing that set Moses apart was the amount of time he spent listening to God. Regularly we read of him going to the “tent of meeting” or up the mountain to spend time listening to the creator of the universe. My little daily devotions hardly measure up to such a commitment.
Martin Luther, it has been said, used to spend an hour in prayer each day and, when he had an especially busy day, would spend two hours in prayer. He was a multitasker too.

I’m beginning to be more and more convinced that effective leaders spend more time listening, planning, and executing than much of anything else. If we’re going to multitask, pick the right tasks.

Prayer: Lord, thanks for the examples of faith and service found in the Scriptures. Help us to learn from them and, ultimately, from you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included Numbers 32-33 and Mark 10)

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